Sociology of Culture Commons^™

Delinking Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting From Islam, Ibrahim Lethome Asmani, Maryam Sheikh Abdi

Reproductive Health

Female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM/C) is practiced in at least 28 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, a few countries in the Middle East and Asia, and among immigrant populations from these countries in Europe, North America, and Australia. Worldwide, an estimated 100 to 140 million girls and women have undergone the practice, and at least three million girls are at risk each year. The Somali ethnic community in Kenya as well in Somalia, Djibouti, and Ethiopia, has practiced female genital cutting for centuries and the practice appears to have remained largely unchanged. The Population Council’s FRONTIERS program carried out two …

Familialism, Social Support, And Stress: Positive Implications For Pregnant Latinas, Belinda Campos, Christine Dunkel Schetter, Cleopatra M. Abdou, Calvin J. Hobel, Laura M. Glynn, Curt A. Sandman

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

This study examined the association of familialism, a cultural value that emphasizes close family relationships, with social Support, stress, pregnancy anxiety, and infant birth weight. Foreign-born Latina (n = 31), U.S.-born Latina (n = 68), and European American (n = 166) women living in the United States participated in a prospective study of pregnancy in which they completed measures of familialism, social support, stress, and pregnancy anxiety during their second trimester. As expected, Latinas scored higher on familialism than European Americans. Familialism was positively correlated with social support and negatively correlated with stress and pregnancy anxiety in the overall sample. …

The Depiction Of Alcohol Tobacco And Other Substances In Children's G & Pg-Rated Animated Films Post 2000, Lindsay F. Graham

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

This study will analyze the depiction of alcohol, tobacco, and other substances in G and PG-rated animated films from November 1, 2000 to December 31, 2005. These films will include those released in theaters and video in English, at least 60 minutes in length, and of the animated genre during this five-year window. There is evidence that due to recent societal pressures facing the Motion Picture Association of America and their rating guidelines, the presence of alcohol and tobacco in children's animated Grated films has lessened. These incidents of exposure have since moved up the rating totem pole to receive …

Evaluation Of Berhane Hewan: A Pilot Program To Promote Education And Delay Marriage In Rural Ethiopia, Annabel Erulkar, Eunice N. Muthengi

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The Berhane Hewan Program pilot-tested in rural Ethiopia from 2004–06 was developed to sensitize community members to the dangers of child marriage, prevent early marriage among unmarried adolescents, and provide support for girls who are already married. The program included social mobilization of girls aged 10–19 into groups led by female mentors; support to stay in school or convening of groups outside of school including nonformal education and livelihoods skills; and community-wide conversations on early marriage and reproductive health issues affecting girls. Economic incentives were provided to families who did not marry off their daughters during the project period. Population-based …

Obtaining More Accurate And Reliable Information From Adolescents Regarding Sti/Hiv Risk Behaviors, Barbara Mensch, Paul C. Hewett

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

To investigate the quality of self-reported data on sexual behavior, Population Council researchers conducted a study in a rural district of Malawi. They implemented a randomized experiment to assess whether audio computer-assisted self-interviewing (ACASI) produces more valid data on sexual behavior than face-to-face interviews. The Malawi study builds on an experiment conducted as part of a household-based survey of Kenyan adolescents. In Kenya and Malawi, there is clear evidence that mode of interviewing and probing of various sexual partnerships affect the reporting of sexual activity. According to Promoting Healthy, Safe, and Productive Transitions to Adulthood Brief No. 25, ACASI is …

Unruly Corporeality: Aids, Immigration And The Imagined Australian Body, Zoë Anderson

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

Particular bodies within the Australian nation can be seen to threaten to disrupt and destabilize dominant notions of cultural citizenship. Understood through intricate intersections of ethnicity, gender and sexuality, 'Australianness' - and its correlation to the geographical nation - is constantly monitored. Crucial here is the manner in which boundaries of whiteness, and 'true Australianess', are reconstituted, fuelling avoidance of the ambiguities of national belonging and ensuring the enduring pathologisation of the 'un'Australian. In particular, discursive associations between HIV/AIDS and the 'foreign' as perceived contaminates to the nation operate to reinforce these understandings. Here, the threat of disease both informs, …

Le Contexte De L’Initiation Sexuelle En Évolution Dans La Région Subsaharienne De L’Afrique, Barbara Mensch

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

L'ampleur de l'épidémie du SIDA en Afrique subsaharienne expose particulièrement les jeunes femmes au risque de l'infection par le VIH et requiert une meilleure compréhension des comportements reproductifs, y compris l'initiation sexuelle et les relations sexuelles pré-maritales. La croissance des relations sexuelles pré-maritales est une conséquence inévitable des mariages tardifs dans les pays en développement, en particulier à cause du fait que la période pendant laquelle les filles sont sexuellement mûres et non mariées est prolongée quand le mariage est retardé. Un récent projet du Population Council a fait des recherches sur les liens entre le changement d'âge au mariage …

The Changing Context Of Sexual Initiation In Sub-Saharan Africa, Barbara Mensch

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The magnitude of the AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa puts young women at particularly high risk for HIV infection and calls for a better understanding of reproductive behavior, including sexual initiation and premarital sex. An increase in premarital sex is an inevitable consequence of later marriage in the developing world, if for no other reason than that the period during which girls are sexually mature and unmarried is prolonged when marriage is postponed. A recent Population Council project investigated the links between changing age at marriage and premarital sexual behavior in 27 sub-Saharan African countries. After documenting the decline in …

Kenya: Mobilize Health Care Providers To Advocate Against Fgm/C, Frontiers In Reproductive Health

Reproductive Health

Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is illegal in Kenya. The practice has declined slightly, yet it is nearly universal among the Abagusii, a relatively affluent ethnic group residing in the Nyanza province in western Kenya. Half of cut women reported that they had been cut by a health worker, however providers express willingness to advocate against the practice. This study, launched in 2004 by the Population Council’s FRONTIERS Program, examined the role of health providers in FGM/C in Kenya’s Abagusii community. As noted in this brief, the objectives were to understand the motivations behind the medicalization of FGM/C and determine the …

Kenya: Begin Community Dialogue On Fgm/C By Discussing Cultural Justification, Frontiers In Reproductive Health

Reproductive Health

Female genital cutting is strongly supported among the Somali ethnic community in Kenya, and the severest form (infibulation) is primarily practiced. This type of cut is associated with increased incidence and seriousness of obstetric and gynecological problems relative to uncut women and those with less severe forms of FGM/C. As stated in this brief, efforts to encourage abandonment should begin with community discussion about the socio-cultural reasons for cutting. Simultaneously, health-care providers need training in how to manage complications of FGM/C. In 2004, FRONTIERS collaborated with UNICEF on a four-month diagnostic study on FGM/C practices among the Somali community in …

Paved With Good Intentions: A Definitional Study On The Issue Of Psychological Child Abuse, Anita Renee Fromm

Graduate Theses

Definitional issues concerning child abuse have long plagued the identification and treatment of this malady. This study examined the role of perpetrator intention in categorizing adverse parenting skills, as well as psychological child abuse potential. Exploitative parenting styles were displayed and rated in a variety of vignettes. Social service professionals and university students were participants in this vignette style questionnaire study. Results indicated that with a few exceptions, a constant perpetrator intention did not appear to alter subject perceptions that the scenarios presented adverse parenting skills and child abuse potential. The participants were indecisive concerning scenarios that represented excessive athletic …

The Use Of Critical Ethnography In Managed Mental Health Care Settings, Cassandra L. Bransford

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

How social workers in managed mental health care settings exercise their professional authority may have profound consequences for the provision of ethical and value-based services to vulnerable populations. Building upon Gidden's theory of structuration, this article describes the use of critical ethnography as a specific research methodology that may support social workers in the exercise of their authority. This article examines the historical roots of critical ethnography and provides a detailed examination of its underlying assumptions and research procedures. The article concludes with a case example of a critical ethnography conducted within a managed mental health care setting.

Examining The Structural Covariates Of Methamphetamine Use: A Social Disorganization Perspective, Justin Smith

Masters Theses

There have been many anecdotal accounts describing the characteristics of individuals involved in methamphetamine use, trafficking and production. However, prior to the current study there was yet to be a macro-level analysis of methamphetamine use. The extant macro-level literature on drug use has suggested that areas with high levels of social disorganization experience high rates of drug use. It was expected that school-districts with low SES and high rates of ethnic heterogeneity, residential instability and family disruption will experience high rates of methamphetamine use. In addition, it was expected that rural school districts would show higher rates than urban and …

Technical Assistance To Organizations In Guinea Seeking To Reduce Female Genital Cutting, Nafissatou J. Diop

Reproductive Health

This reports details the technical assistance the Population Council’s FRONTIERS program provided to WHO’s Africa Bureau to implement a project addressing medicalization of female genital cutting (FGC), and to support Tostan in replicating its program in Guinea. Technical assistance had several aims: to improve the effectiveness of strategies to abandon FGC in Guinea, to assist WHO in developing and implementing a project to reduce FGC medicalization by health providers, to build the capacity of Guinean organizations to appropriately monitor and evaluate their FGC-related activities, and to enable the Comité de Lutte contre les Pratiques Traditionnelles portant Atteinte aux Femmes (CPTAFE) …

“Texts Memorized, Texts Performed: A Reconsideration Of The Role Of Paritta In Sri Lankan Monastic Education.”, Jeffrey Samuels

Philosophy & Religion Faculty Publications

During the past twenty years there has been a growing interest in monastic education within the larger field of Buddhist studies. Within the last ten years in particular, a number of monographs and articles examining the training and education of monks in Korea (Buswell [1992]), Tibet/India (Dreyfus [2003]), Thailand/Laos (Collins [1990], McDaniel [2002, 2003]), and Sri Lanka (Blackburn [1999a, 1999b, 2001] Samuels [2002]), have been published. Many of those works have paid particular attention to the texts used in monastic training, as well as to how the information contained in those very texts is imparted to and embodied by monks …

Motivated Breast Cancer Screening Behavior And Its Cultural Antecedents, Patricia M. Flynn

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Discrepancies in breast cancer screening behavior exist among various ethnic groups in the United States (Jacobs & Lauderdale, 2001), with Latino American women reporting particularly low screening rates in comparison to Anglo American women (ACS, 2002). Research indicates that behavior is in part influenced by aspects of culture and relevant psychological processes (Betancourt & Lopez, 1993; Betancourt & Fuentes, 2001). This study was designed to investigate the relations among cultural values, attributions regarding the causes for not screening, related emotions, expectancy that screening leads to early detection and value incentive of early detection as determinants of breast cancer screening intention …

Female Genital Cutting Among The Somali Of Kenya And Management Of Its Complications, Guyo W. Jaldesa, Ian Askew, Carolyne Njue, Monica Wanjiru

Reproductive Health

The Somali community living in Kenya (and in their native Somalia) has practiced the severest form of female genital cutting (FGC)—infibulation—for centuries. To understand the context within which the practice takes place, and how its complications are managed, the Population Council’s Frontiers in Reproductive Health Program undertook a diagnostic study that confirmed that FGC is a deeply rooted and widely supported cultural practice. Several closely related reasons are used to sustain the practice: religious obligation, family honor, and virginity as a prerequisite for marriage; an aesthetic preference for infibulated genitalia was also mentioned. The study also found that the health …

A Privatization Of Politics: Anthony Elliot's Concepts Of The Self (2001), Paula Murphy

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

It would be difficult to find a more appropriate image of selfhood in the modern world than that found in Ezra Pound's poem In a Station of the Metro. It is a selfhood which is at once unique and conglomerative, fleetingly visible then tantalizingly out of focus. It is this slippery, indefinable entity that is the subject of Anthony Elliot's book. The title bears witness to the enormous breadth of its subject matter: Concepts of the Self is an attempt to engage with the various contemporary theoretical frameworks through which selfhood is explicated. Elliot's approach is admirably inter-disciplinary, …

Cultural Value Orientations, Attributions, And Breast Cancer Screening Behaviors, Patricia M. Flynn

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Discrepancies in breast cancer screening behavior exist among various ethnic groups in the United States (Jacobs & Lauderdale, 2001), with Latino American women reporting particularly low screening rates in comparison to Anglo American women (ACS, 2002). Research indicates that behavior is in part influenced by aspects of culture and relevant psychological processes (Betancourt & Lopez, 1993; Betancourt & Fuentes, 2001). This study was designed to investigate the relations among cultural values, attributional processes, and breast cancer screening behavior among Anglo and Latino women. This study also investigated the influence of acculturation among Latino women in relation to the other study …

Does Dowry Improve Life For Brides? A Test Of The Bequest Theory Of Dowry In Rural Bangladesh, Luciana Suran, Sajeda Amin, Lopita Huq, Kobita Chowdury

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

In recent years, dowry levels in Bangladesh have risen to previously unforeseen levels—sometimes three or four times a family’s total assets. Some recent economic writings suggest that dowry functions as a bequest or pre-mortem inheritance, implying it persists because it is “good for the bride.” Using panel data from an adolescent study in rural Bangladesh, this Population Council working paper explores the association between dowry and the prevalence of domestic abuse to test the bequest theory of dowry. Contrary to the prediction of the bequest theory, married females who paid dowry at marriage have a higher likelihood of reporting domestic …

The Relationship Between Childbirth Experience And Psychological Functioning In The Postpartum Period, Dena Dian Daniel

Graduate Theses

The purpose of this research is to examine the relationships between the mother's perception of the birth experience, symptoms of the post-traumatic stress, and symptoms of postpartum depression. Sixty-seven participants ranging from 17 to 40 years of age completed a self-report questionnaire containing items from three instruments including the Perception of Birth Scale, the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, and the Davidson Trauma Scale. The findings reveal a more negative perception of the birth experience is significantly related to a greater frequency and/or. severity of. post- traumatic stress and postpartum depression symptoms following childbirth., These findings support the conclusion that an …

All The News That’S Fat To Print: The American "Obesity Epidemic" And The Media, Natalie Boero

Faculty Publications, Sociology

Increasingly the term epidemic is being used to describe the current prevalence of fatness in the United States. Skyrocketing rates of obesity among all groups of Americans, particularly children, the poor, and minorities, have become a major public health concern. Indeed, it is difficult to open a newspaper or magazine without encountering a discussion of the expanding American waistline and the health problems associated therewith. In this paper I use 751 New York Times articles on obesity to examine the media construction of the obesity epidemic. I show that there is not one dominant discourse (i.e. medicine) constructing this epidemic, …

Women's Denial Of Having Experienced Female Genital Cutting In Northern Ghana: Explanatory Factors And Consequences For Analysis Of Survey Data, Elizabeth F. Jackson, Patricia Akweongo, Evelyn Sakeah, Abraham Hodgson, Rofina Asuru, James F. Phillips

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Although many cross-sectional social surveys have included questions about female genital cutting status and correlated personal characteristics, no longitudinal studies have been launched that permit investigation of response biases associated with such surveys. This paper reports on a longitudinal study of women aged 15 to 49 in rural northern Ghana. The self-reported circumcision status of women interviewed in 1995 was compared with the status they reported when they were interviewed again in 2000 after the government began enforcing a law banning the practice and public information campaigns against it were launched. In all, 13 percent of respondents who reported in …

Review Of: Preventing And Controlling Cancer In North America: A Cross- Cultural Perspective (Diane Weiner, Ed.), Hunter Yancey

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

Review of the book: Preventing and Controlling Cancer in North America: A Cross-Cultural Perspective (Diane Weiner, ed., Praeger Publishers 1999). Illustrations, Introduction, Concluding Remarks, Bibliography, Index, About the Contributors. ISBN 0-275-96180-X [245 pp. $72.50 Hardbound, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881.]

An Assessment Of The Alternative Rites Approach For Encouraging Abandonment Of Female Genital Mutilation In Kenya, Jane Chege, Ian Askew, Jennifer Liku

Reproductive Health

Maendeleo Ya Wanawake (MYWO), with technical assistance from the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), has been implementing an Alternative Rite of passage programme as part of its efforts to eradicate the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) in five districts in Kenya. This study addressed the factors that influence some families and individuals to adopt the Alternative Rite while others, exposed to the same messages discouraging FGM, decide not to. It also evaluated the effect of the training component of the Alternative Rite on the girls who participated.

Expanding Men's Participation In Reproductive Health In Kenya, Bolaji M. Fapohunda, Naomi Rutenberg

Reproductive Health

To increase men’s participation in family planning (FP) and reproductive health (RH) both for their own well-being and as gatekeepers to women’s health, the African Population Policy Research Center and the Population Council’s OR/TA Project II launched a study designed to explore best practices for delivering services to men. The study examined men’s knowledge, perceptions, and concerns about RH issues, including FP, and the social context of their knowledge. In sub-Saharan Africa, FP and reproductive health-care research and interventions place a disproportionate emphasis on women and largely ignore the role of men. As a result, male participation in FP and …

The Occurrence Of Alexithymia In Children And Adolescents With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Michael S. Routh

Graduate Theses

Previous studies of the relationship between alexithymia and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have utilized samples of combat veterans with PTSD. However, children and adolescents who have experienced trauma and are diagnosed with PTSD exhibit similar or identical symptomology. The current study examined alexithymia in a sample of children and adolescents diagnosed with PTSD. It was hypothesized that the sample, when compared to non-PTSD and control samples, would reveal a significantly greater severity of alexithymia and PTSD. Although overall results were not consistent with previous research, trends of group means supported a relationship between alexithymia and PTSD. 1

The Social Class And Mental Illness Correlation: Implications Of The Research For Policy And Practice, Christopher G. Hudson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Ongoing efforts to unravel the causal issues involved in the correlation between socioeconomic status and mental illness suggest that the hypothesis of a recursive or interactive relationship may be the most tenable, at least with the psychoses. Implications of this research are explored, with particular attention paid to the mental health costs of economic policies, the principles with which states allocate mental health resources, and the use of this knowledge-base in service planning.

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 58, No. 21 Magazine, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

Magazine feature of WKU campus newspaper. This issue contains articles:

• Rose, Barry. We're Different. We're GDIs and They're Greeks
• Wright, Sharon. John Carpenter
• Lyly, Linda. Mending the Hurt